ECC: SOCAR still perfect; Amazing KID Fight Svidler-Nakamura

On Thursday top favorite SOCAR maintained a perfect score at the European Club Cup in Rhodes, Greece. Thanks to victories by Veselin Topalov and Wang Hao, the team sponsored by the Azerbaijani state oil company defeated Ugra of Russia. On board one of the match St Petersburg - Padova, Hikaru Nakamura won a spectacular King's Indian with Black against Peter Svidler. In the women's section Cercle d'Echecs de Monte-Carlo also beat CS Politechnica-Antibiotice Iasi and is now three points ahead of the rest.

The defending champions are well on their way to clinch their second European cup in a row, although two more tough rounds will follow. On Thursday the strong Russians of Ugra were defeated 4-2. Topalov ground down Korobov after no less than 96 moves:

The other full point was scored by Wang Hao, who won against Alexey Dreev:

SOCAR vs Ugra

G-Team Novy Bor moved to second place, thanks to a 4.5-1.5 over SK 47 Eynatten, and will face SOCAR tomorrow.

St Petersburg vs Padova was quite a tough battle where Hikaru Nakamura won an amazing game against Peter Svidler, using the King's Indian. After many losses (and some draws), the American GM finally beat Svidler at the Thessaloniki GP earlier this year and, again in Greece, he did it again:

Svidler-Nakamura

It was the kind of game Garry Kasparov liked to play (before he gave up on the KID) and so it was nice to see the 13th World Champion, who briefly coached Nakamura, reacting on the game via Twitter:

King's Indian is a great opening for players with preparation, calculation & determination! Bullets fear the brave. @chess_stats@GMHikaru

In the same match Padova's Daniele Vocaturo also won his game, but the former European champions struck back (Dominguez, Vitiugov and Movsesian) and finally won the match 3.5-2.5.

European Club Cup 2013 | Round 5 standings

Rk.

SNo

FED

Team

+

=

-

TB1

TB2

TB3

TB4

TB5

1

1

AZE

SOCAR

5

0

0

10

114,5

23,5

83,5

83,5

2

5

CZE

G-Team Novy Bor

4

1

0

9

119

20,5

95,5

83,5

3

8

AZE

Odlar Yurdu

3

2

0

8

119,5

22

90

68,75

4

4

RUS

Ugra

4

0

1

8

108

21

92,5

69

5

3

RUS

Saint-Petersburg

4

0

1

8

101

22,5

77

56

6

2

RUS

Malachite

3

2

0

8

99

24

72,5

51,25

7

10

BLR

Minsk

4

0

1

8

96,5

22,5

70,5

53

8

6

RUS

PGMB-Rostov

4

0

1

8

94,5

22,5

73,5

53

9

15

BEL

S.F. Wirtzfeld

4

0

1

8

77

19

80

59,5

10

9

FRA

Clichy Echecs 92

3

1

1

7

101

18,5

92,5

58

11

13

AUT

Schachclub MPO Maria Saal

3

1

1

7

50

16

77

48,5

12

7

ITA

O.R. Padova

3

0

2

6

86

16,5

98

52

13

12

BEL

Amay Chess Club

3

0

2

6

81

17

89,5

45

14

21

NED

En Passant

3

0

2

6

78

16,5

85

41,5

15

11

GRE

Peristeri

3

0

2

6

73

17,5

85

46

16

25

NOR

Asker

3

0

2

6

71

21

64,5

29,5

17

17

SUI

Reichenstein SSB

3

0

2

6

64,5

18,5

63

31

18

14

BEL

SK 47 Eynatten

3

0

2

6

57,5

17

64

34,5

19

18

ISR

Kfar Saba Chess Club

3

0

2

6

57

16

81

43,5

20

20

TUR

Besiktas JK

3

0

2

6

52

19,5

55,5

29,5

21

35

AUT

SK Advisory Invest Baden

3

0

2

6

47,5

15

68

35,5

22

34

FRA

Sautron

3

0

2

6

37

14,5

77,5

39

23

36

ENG

White Rose

3

0

2

6

34,5

14

73,5

34

24

27

NOR

Oslo Schakselskap

2

1

2

5

60

14

83

34,25

25

24

SWE

Limhamns SK

2

1

2

5

55

13,5

86

35,5

26

19

ITA

A.S.I. Bologna

2

1

2

5

51

14

74,5

28,75

27

16

HUN

Haladas VSE, Szombathely

2

1

2

5

50

17

60,5

27,75

28

38

LUX

The Smashing Pawns Belvaux

2

1

2

5

46

17

54,5

21,75

29

22

SUI

Club d'Echecs de Geneve

2

1

2

5

45

12,5

82,5

34

30

32

NED

Accres Apeldoorn

2

1

2

5

37

12,5

91

39

31

39

LUX

CE De Sprenger Echternach

1

2

2

4

46,5

13

66,5

23,5

32

33

GER

Schachgesellschaft Solingen

2

0

3

4

45,5

16,5

63

19,5

33

23

DEN

Jetsmark

2

0

3

4

41

15,5

56,5

17

34

43

SCO

Edinburgh Chess Club

2

0

3

4

40

12,5

73

23,5

35

41

MNC

Cercle d'Echecs de Monte-Carlo

2

0

3

4

39

12

78

27

36

28

ENG

Jutes of Kent

2

0

3

4

38,5

11

93,5

32,5

37

37

ECX

Expik Kosova

2

0

3

4

36,5

14

61,5

19,5

38

30

ISL

Viking Chess Club

2

0

3

4

36

14

66,5

21

39

29

ENG

Barbican 4NCL

2

0

3

4

35

9,5

97

33,5

40

48

IRL

Adare

1

2

2

4

32,5

13

62

24,5

41

26

FIN

Tammer-Shakki

2

0

3

4

26,5

10

92

26

42

31

FIN

Chess Club Velhot

1

1

3

3

44,5

13

71

16

43

47

ECX

Istogu Chess Club

1

1

3

3

34

9,5

79

20,5

44

51

ALB

Klubi Sportiv Butrinti

1

1

3

3

21

9,5

62

8,5

45

52

WLS

Cardigan

1

1

3

3

21

9

57

9

46

40

DEN

Nordea Skanderborg

1

0

4

2

40

9

92

17

47

45

SCO

Edinburgh West Chess Club

1

0

4

2

29,5

9,5

70

10

48

44

NED

SV Voerendaal / KNSB

1

0

4

2

29

11,5

63,5

8

49

42

GER

Chess Club Eppingen

1

0

4

2

26

12

61,5

8,5

50

46

IRL

Gonzaga

1

0

4

2

20

10

71,5

9

51

53

GRE

Ippotis Rodou

0

1

4

1

33

9

46

0

52

50

WLS

White Knights Chess Club

0

1

4

1

25,5

8,5

49

0

53

49

GER

SV Muelheim Nord 1931

0

1

4

1

18,5

8

58

0

Cercle d’Echecs de Monte-Carlo is getting closer to another trophy in the women's section after beating CS Politechnica-Antibiotice Iasi 2.5-1.5. Three games ended in draws, but Anna Muzychuk won the decisive game against Irina Bulmaga.

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